A Guide toHistoric Architecture in Fresno,
California

Biographies of Architects, Designers, and
Builders

Charles K. Kirby, Jr. (1871-1936)

Charles K. Kirby, Jr. was born in Boston in 1871. In 1878
his family moved to California and settled in San Francisco. Kirby trained in
architecture under his father, C. K. Kirby, Sr. (1826-1910), the prominent East
Coast architect who designed the first Boston Public Library (1858). The senior
Kirby practiced in San Francisco for a time, then operated a large vineyard
south of Fresno.

Prior to opening his Fresno office in 1889, C. K. Kirby,
Jr. appears to have worked with his father in 1888 designing the O. J. Woodward
and Jacob Vogel homes and the Einstein and Edgerly Blocks. Kirby, Jr. is
credited alone with designing the Fresno First National Bank Building (1888)
and the Barton Opera House (1890).

During the early 1890s C. K. Kirby, Jr. practiced in San
Francisco and Fresno. In 1897 he advertised a partnership with his brother Fred
W. Kirby (1850-1912), with their principal office located in San Francisco.
Fred, who had studied architecture in Paris, preferred ranching, however, and
by 1901 had given up architecture to run the family's Sierra Park Vineyard near
Fowler.

During the early 1900s Kirby settled into a modest
practice in Fresno. His work at that time included an opera house and the
Carnegie Library in Selma in 1905. For a short time after 1907 he teamed up
with Harry A. Thomas. Together they prepared plans for
contagious disease bungalows (pest houses) for Fresno County Hospital. On his
own again in 1910, Kirby designed a fine Craftsman style Unitarian Church.
Among his last major projects were the old Fresno Auditorium and the Iwata
Theater, both designed in 1912. As his career waned, he designed mostly small
homes.

Charles K. Kirby, Jr. retired in 1924 and moved to his
ranch near Earlimart, where he died on January 26, 1936.